The Law Society has warned the government that the UK could lose
up to 3bn a year if a new patents court is not based in
London. The warning follows a report which highlighted the
potential cost to the UK's intellectual property industry if the
court was based elsewhere in Europe.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson, who this week wrote
to the justice secretary on the matter, said:
'If the UK government agrees that the new court should be based
in Paris or Munich instead of London, they will be turning away up
to 3bn per annum. There will also be longer term effects. We
will see the UK's intellectual property expertise disappear
overseas.
'London and the UK is seeking to become the European centre for
commercial litigation and arbitration. That aspiration will be
diluted if the new court is opened elsewhere. At a time when the UK
economy needs all the help it can get, it would be unwise for the
UK Government to negotiate away a the new court, which will play
its part in the UK's position as a nation of innovators.'
Read
more